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Crime

NOPE
The desperate cry of a mother finding her 17-year-old son dead from a painkiller and another prescription drug instantly silences hundreds of students who listen to her 911 call. That recording is the gut-punch that anchors a new educational program aimed at combating the rising abuse of prescription opioid abuse among U.S. young adults. (Drug overdoses, teenagers, anti-drug education programs.)Advanced

A Drop of Wine
A flipped lesson: students should have done the Instant Workbook '(A Drop of Wine)' before doing this lesson. There is a printout at the end of the Instant Workbook which they will need to use in class. The great mystery of what may go down in wine annals as the crime of the century - the destruction of the equivalent of 80,000 bottles of a choice Sangiovese wine - may have been solved.Upper-Intermediate

Reading Helps Prisoners Escape
Prisoners in four prisons can read up to 12 books every year and shorten their sentence in prison by up to 48 days, the government said. (Prisons, reading, benefits of reading.)Elementary

Knock, Knock ... Who's There?
Be careful when you are opening your door! This is what police in Turkey are telling people. Policewore doctors' white coats and stethoscopes. They knocked on people's doors and said they were doctors. (Home security, police, truth or lie game.)Elementary

Kiss me or I'll shoot!
A woman from Florida shot a gun at her neighbor when he didn't want to kiss her. The 92-year-old woman came to the man's house and asked him for a kiss. (Bizarre stories, crime, so and but, gun control, neighbors.)Elementary

Homegirls
It was Stephanie Lane's first day on the job as a waitress at Homegirl Cafe and the last thing she wanted to do was wait on the police. The restaurant, staffed by female gang members trying to leave their past behind, is part of Homeboy Industries... Quitting a life of drug dealing, fighting and stealing cars on the streets of South Los Angeles, where she followed her father and mother into the Crips gang, was not easy. (Gangs and rehabilitation, Homeboy Industries, making a movie, discussion.)Upper-Intermediate

World Cup Hearing
World Cup fans should wear ear plugs to protect them from the blaring vuvuzela trumpets beloved by South African spectators, a hearing expert said. (Soccer World Cup, hearing loss, sport.)Upper-Intermediate

Stolen Phones
Music-lovers watching their favorite acts at concerts are increasingly becoming targets for gangs of mobile phone thieves, British police said. Thieves who steal mobile phones may soon find them unusable and the phones will scream at them. (Crime, technology, cell phones, use of future form, 'going to'.)Pre-Intermediate

Operation Flower
A Tokyo district with lots of burglaries has turned to planting flowers to help stamp out crime. "'Operation Flower' began about three years ago. By planting flowers, people will be keeping an eye out while taking care of the flowers or watering them... The best way to prevent crime is to have more people on the lookout." (Fighting crime, neighborhood watch groups, miming, listening for numbers, listening to true or false statements, past simple tense verbs - making negatives, making a poster.)Pre-Intermediate

I Am Sorry!
A New York store owner stopped a robbery, but then helped the robber because he felt sorry for him. (Unemployment, crime, apologizing, saying sorry, infinitives of purpose.)Elementary

Under Attack
It may affect as many as half of U.S. teenagers, can be as bad or worse than being beaten up in the schoolyard, and is so relentless and emotionally devastating that suicide can seem the only answer. Whether it is through emails, instant messaging, cellphones, texting or web sites, cyberbullying is a growing problem. This lesson looks at cyberbullying and bullying. (Bullying, notetaking, Internet research, comprehension.)Upper-Intermediate

Pirates!
A new spate of hijackings by Somali pirates has shown they are determined to go on striking at shipping on the region's strategic trade routes despite intervention by Western and other navies. Multi-million-dollar superyachts sailing from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean for the European summer could be the next high-profile target of Somali pirates, security experts say. (Super yachts, piracy, choosing the correct headline, finding errors.)Advanced

A Second Chance
Prisoners in the Philippines are learning how to make dresses. At a maximum security prison in the Philippines about 30 prisoners are learning how to make cocktail dresses, bags and belts which sell for hundreds of dollars. (Dress making, rehabilitation, crime, prisons, infinitive forms.)Elementary

Running from the Pigs
A man, who was running away from the police, asked police for help when he ran into a family of wild boar. Two prisoners rescued a prison officer when a boar attacked him at a prison. (Bizarre stories, crime and rescues, infinitives of purpose.)Elementary

Guns, Guns and More Guns
The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said. (Guns, arms control, poverty and wealth, reading for the main idea, thinking carefully.)Intermediate

Smart Squirrels
A Finnish squirrel goes to a Finnish grocery shop at least twice a day to steal "Kinder Surprise" chocolate-shelled eggs and in Britain a squirrel helped police find a box of stolen crockery by encouraging them to follow it and then leading them to a tree. (Squirrels, animal behavior, crime, vocabulary, comprehension, discussion and prepositions.)Elementary

Lost in The Big Apple
Ever wondered what would happen if you lost your wallet in a big city? If it happened in New York, chances are you would get it back. New Yorkers may have a reputation as being busy, cynical and tough but most will take the trouble and effort to find the owner of a lost wallet, according to a new study. (Honesty, city versus countryside, problem solving, writing a definition, conducting an experiment, quantifier words.)Upper-Intermediate

Killer Games
A 2007 article says that violent video games do not make children into murderers. (Violent video games and effect on children, violence, discussion, vocabulary hunt, filling the gaps in a table, finding and correcting grammatical errors.)Intermediate

In the Shadow of the Knife
A teenager lies in a pool of blood in the street after he is stabbed in a dawn attack. Britain is living "in the shadow of the knife", as one tabloid headline writer put it. And experts fear the number of fatal stabbings will spiral out of control if a growing knife culture among young people is not tackled. (Violent crimes, young people, city life, discussion, choosing a headline, matching information, comprehension, ordering paragraphs.)Advanced

Robber Returns with Interest
A Japanese man who robbed a post office returned more money than he stole and turned himself in after deciding to come clean for the sake of his girlfriend. (Crimes, repentance, punishment, saying sorry, sequencing, making negative past simple statements, comprehension, finding errors, functional language: saying sorry.)Pre-Intermediate

Trouble At The Top
Leading celebrity photographer Mario Testino has defended Kate Moss after she lost lucrative modeling contracts over allegations of cocaine abuse: "I know Kate very well and I don't think she's at all tormented, torrid, depressed."
(Famous models, alcohol abuse, drugs, judging or forgiving someone, word hunt, true or false, comprehension.)Intermediate

Ethical Education
An Indian teenager fooled governments, the media and even the president into believing he had topped the world in a NASA science exam. Canadian university students cheated on an ethics course. (Dishonesty, plagiarizing, examinations, understanding the main idea, answering true, false or not given questions, describing past habits and routines, writing a questionnaire.)Upper-Intermediate

ATM Thieves
There has been a huge increase in Japan in the number of robbers using large diggers to remove automated teller machines (ATMs) from the lobbies of banks. (Bizarre crimes, construction and crime, vocabulary, matching pictures and words, predicting from the headline, main idea, reading for detail, reading carefully, before / after + -ing, pair crossword, gap fill.)
Elementary

Survey Results 'Too Good'
When customers of utility company Southern California Edison were surveyed to get feedback, pollsters received answers expressing delight at the service received. But the objectivity of these results came under question when it was learned that employees had surveyed friends and family! (Customer surveys, utility companies, hacking, discussion, comprehension, sequencing, true, false or not given, passive, conditionals, listening for differences.)Upper-Intermediate

Global Bicycle Thieves
Amsterdam police will use bicycles equipped with hidden GPS transmitters to bait thieves and track them down in the latest effort to stamp out rampant bike theft. (Theft, GPS, Amsterdam, discussion, predicting from the headline, guessing meanings from context, mixed questions, completing a table of information, true, false or not given, words used as nouns and verbs, word search puzzle.)Intermediate

Cyber Crime
This is about a plan where high-tech companies and companies involved in ecommerce joined the FBI to use encrypted e-mail and a secure Web site to warn each other about new hacking attempts, computer viruses and other Internet-based criminal activity. (Internet crime, hacking, ecommerce, the FBI, verb agreements)
Upper-Intermediate

Young Smokers Find A Way
Restrictions on the sale of tobacco to minors may be prompting more teenage smokers to steal cigarettes or get them from parents and older friends, according to a U.S. study of student smoking habits in Texas. (Minors and smoking, anti-tobacco laws, scanning, completing a table, matching figures with information, true or false, prepositions, describing increases and decreases, cloze listening, discussion.)Upper-Intermediate

Extra Jail for Smoker
For a 73-year-old Canadian man, 20 months in a smoke-free jail looked just too long, so instead he took 24 months in a prison where he can smoke cigarettes. (Smoking issues, discussion, understanding the main idea, comprehension, choose the best answer, regular and irregular simple past tense verbs, nouns - nationalities and languages.)Pre-Intermediate

Dog Show Intrigue
Something sinister is troubling Britain's genteel world of dog-showing, and at the center of it all lies one question: Who called Mrs Mann a "puppy farmer?" Hate mail is circulating, threats have been made over the phone, Mann - the country's top show judge - has resigned. (Gossip and scandal, dogshows, brainstorming and planning, whisper campaign, understanding main idea, completing table of information, categorizing words, comprehension, interview, quotations about gossip, word formation.)Advanced

Not The Retiring Type
The oldest bank robber in the United States, a 92-year-old man, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to robbing a Texas bank. He said he robbed his first bank when he was about 80 because he wanted revenge against banks for sending him into a financial crisis. (Bizarre stories, crime, banks, discussion, Find Your Other Half Vocabulary game, predicting, skimming, sequencing, question construction, phrasal verbs, read and draw.)Intermediate

Someone Found My Wallet!
A wallet that was lost in southern Sweden more than 40 years ago has been returned to its owner and her money was still in it. (Lost and found stories, bizarre stories, personal items, understanding the main idea, forming and answering questions, matching information, reading and thinking, choose the best answer, question words (who, where, what, when, how, whose, why, which), short partner questionnaire, writing a short description, discussion.)Elementary

Against The Law!
The poor, oil-rich nation of Venezuela is considering decriminalizing the theft of food and medicine in cases where a thief is motivated by extreme hunger or need. (Justice, poverty, decriminalization, different crimes, ranking and discussion, understanding the main ideas, giving an opinion, scanning, modal verbs, prefixes - in-, de-, non-, crossword, Vocabulary Bingo Game.)Intermediate

In A Crate
A man trying to save a little money, traveled in an air cargo crate by plane from New York to Texas. Investigators are now asking him questions about his trip. (Bizarre stories, deliveries, predicting, understanding the main idea, making questions, ordering events, reading for detail, personal pronouns, sequencing game.)Elementary

A Rude Passenger
A Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Brisbane, Australia made an unscheduled stop to eject a passenger who became unruly after a heated argument with his girlfriend. The man may have to pay the A$25,000 bill. (Airplane travel, passenger behavior, sequencing, summarizing, discussion, true or false, interview, word forms, pair crossword.)Pre-Intermediate

Donor Debate
A Moldovan woman, desperate to feed her family, decides to sell one of her kidneys to a rich Westerner for $3,000 - - more than a year’s salary for the donor, peanuts to the recipient. Is it an act of exploitation in Europe’s poorest country or a lifesaving transaction which could and should be regulated? (Body organ trading, understanding the main idea, understanding viewpoints, summarizing, discussion, words in context.)Upper-Intermediate

T-Shirt Not So Peaceful
A lawyer was arrested and charged with trespassing at a public mall in the state of New York after refusing to take off a T-shirt advocating peace that he had just purchased at the mall. (Slogans on T-shirts, choose the best answer, complete the information, sequencing, true, false or not given, writing slogans, discussion, the prefix 'mis'.)Intermediate

Don't Be Alarmed!
Police in Los Angeles have settled on a new way of handling those pesky burglar alarms that take up so much of their time. They will now ignore them -- unless someone can prove that there is a genuine emergency. (Crimes, burglary, predicting from the headline, guessing words from context, comprehension, true or false, summarizing, the present perfect simple, vocabulary: robbery, theft, burglary, giving an opinion in speaking and writing.)Intermediate

Traffic Fine
An Austrian woman has begun a 500-day jail sentence for ignoring parking tickets and a woman in Glasgow, Scotland is one of the world's worst parking offenders. (Parking and rules, bizarre stories, infinitive of purpose.)Elementary

Signing a Petition
A baby elephant in Germany has signed a petition to protect wild elephants around the world, an environmental protection group says. (Ivory trade and elephants, ranking, predicting, writing questions, guessing the meanings of words in context, true or false, verb forms, short talks, describing an animal.)Intermediate

Knowing How to Drive a Car
Two Canadians learned that knowing how to drive a car is important when you want to steal one. (Bizarre crimes, matching pictures and information, gap fill, comprehension, to know how to do something, word find puzzle, discussion.)Elementary

Lawyers Want Government Jobs
Today, the Enron and WorldCom stories have transformed corporate crime fighting into a top choice for law students who, only two years ago, might have looked down their noses at a career in government. (Legal graduates and government law, listening comprehension, discussing pros and cons, true, false or not given, comprehension, completing statements, verbs that take the infinitive, role play.)Advanced

Aussie Thieves Steal Water
Thieves are stealing water from rivers and selling it to Australian farmers. The farmers are fighting one of the worst droughts in a century. (Drought and its effect on crop farming, prediction, reading for gist, comprehension, categorizing words, true or false, reading for detail, word find puzzle, discussion.)Elementary to Pre-Intermediate

No Driver's License
A German motorist who was sentenced to prison for repeatedly driving without a license was caught driving just moments after leaving the court, police said. (Careless driving, matching pictures and words, prepositions, word find, sequencing, comprehension, true or false, discussion, role-play.)Pre-Intermediate